Supporting Emergency-Licensed Special Educators in Rural Settings

• In Event: Critical Perspectives and Conceptualizations of Rurality and Demographic Change: Serving Minoritized Populations in Rural School-Communities

Abstract

Fully-certified teachers are not equitably distributed among schools (Boe, 2014; Cochran-Smith, 2004). Many rural districts rely on emergency-licensed teachers to fill special education vacancies. The result is a significant gap in preparation that impacts outcomes for students with disabilities. In developing professional learning experiences to address this gap, consideration of the teaching context of rural special education— geographic isolation, breadth of expertise required, and limited access to mentors—is crucial.

The literature is clear that teachers require relevant and progressive professional development (PD) to support and facilitate meaningful improvements in practice. Our team developed virtual PD incorporating coaching and a community of practice. Our goal is to influence proximal teacher outcomes: increases in self-efficacy, quality of instruction, and desire to stay in the profession. We also hypothesized impact on distal outcomes: increases in the number of educators becoming fully licensed and likelihood that they remain as teachers.

We used a qualitative approach to deepen understanding of the phenomenon in question (Patton, 2002). Research questions included: 1) What aspects of the PD worked well? 2) What aspects should be changed for future iterations?

We recruited 12 emergency-licensed rural special educators over two years to participate in our iteratively developed PD. Teachers were interviewed multiple times. Analysis of the qualitative data used thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2013) informed by a grounded theory approach.

Our findings led us to several overarching conclusions. The first being that rural teachers value connecting to a network outside their districts. Due to small size, teachers in rural districts may struggle to find colleagues to collaborate with who have similar experiences. This compounds the isolation teachers feel as beginners without full licensure. Teachers expressed how important it was to dialogue with someone outside their district who was not evaluating them and enjoyed meeting other rural teachers with similar experiences.

We also found that teachers’ capacity and varied backgrounds necessitate a flexible approach. All participants had previous experience in the classroom, however, special education was new to all, and their chosen path to licensure provided varying degrees of training to address the needs of students with disabilities. Teachers felt overwhelmed as they attempted to learn on the job. PD should be nimble to respond to teachers with high needs and limited time, energy, and resources.

Finally, our study highlighted the importance of low barriers. Our participants revealed the necessity of incorporating PD within already familiar systems or technologies. At times, coaching needed to be flexible enough to be provided over the phone or between classes and other obligations. Without low barriers to entry, teachers may not access PD.

Job satisfaction, administrative support, induction programming, and mentoring impact retention decisions (Vittek, 2015; Patterson et al., 2003). Emergency-licensed special educators may not have access to these supports in resourced-strapped districts. Gaps in time and resources become more pronounced in geographically isolated rural schools, where teachers take on greater responsibilities and have fewer colleagues to lean on. Our study reveals that responsive PD helps teachers gain confidence and stay in the profession.

Authors

• Kimber L. Wilkerson, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Rebekka S Olsen, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Andrea Ruppar, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Melinda Leko, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author